Plumbers conventionally install hot and cold water lines when they can such that the hot water line is on the left and the cold water line is on the right. Faucet manufacturers have also made single handle mixing faucets with their own conventional operation. Faucet levers moved to the right deliver cold water and moved to the left deliver hot water. Faucet manufacturers recognize the importance of these conventions so that when a faucet is installed, the faucet operates correctly when the left hot water line is connected to the left inlet and the right cold water line is connected to the right inlet.
However, certain difficulties arise in specific situations. In certain faucets, if the lever handle is replaced by a knob, for example, the conventional operation of the faucet is reversed, i.e., movement of a lever to the right conventionally provides cold water. However, this movement corresponds to counterclockwise rotation of a knob which conventionally should provide hot water. Therefore, a reversing mechanism is needed within the faucet, such as crossover of the inlets or a reversing bottom such as that shown in copending and commonly owned patent applications U.S. Ser. No. 804,261 and PCT/US86/01180. Incorporation of these two applications are herein made by reference.
Another common difficulty arises when the same type faucet is to be installed in two different rooms placed on opposite sides of a common wall and connected to common supply pipes. The cold water pipe that is conventionally located on the right for a first faucet turns out to be on the left for the other faucet. Before the development of the reversing bottom, either one accepts the fact that one faucet operates in a reverse fashion from convention, or it was necessary that the plumber cross the supply inlets. The only other alternative was to install a different faucet that was designed to compensate for the reversal of the supply pipes.
With the reversing bottom, one merely changes the position of the reversing bottom (by rotation or flipping) to compensate for the non conventional position of the supply pipes. However, with the reversing bottom, the plumber may get confused as to which position of the bottom corresponds to the conventional location of the supply pipes and which position corresponds to the reversed location of the supply pipes.
What is needed is an orienting and indicating mechanism that normally assures the proper orientation of the reversible bottom for conventional installation and prevent accidental reversal of the reversible bottom so that upon initial assembly of the valve, the faucet is assured to be assembled for the conventional installation. Furthermore, it is desirable to have a simple operation to override or defeat the orientation mechanism to provide for intended reversal of the reversible bottom.